Leucocyte profiles and corticosterone in chicks of southern rockhopper penguins
Abstract: The immune system is essential for health and survival of vertebrates, yet still little is known about the ontogeny of the immune system in wild birds. The southern rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome chrysocome) is a semi-altricial seabird with a long developmental period and reversed...
Published in: | Journal of Comparative Physiology B |
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Language: | English |
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2011
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10067/889530151162165141 |
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ftunivantwerpen:c:irua:88953 2023-07-16T04:00:42+02:00 Leucocyte profiles and corticosterone in chicks of southern rockhopper penguins Dehnhard, Nina Poisbleau, Maud Demongin, Laurent Chastel, Olivier van Noordwijk, Hendrika J. Quillfeldt, Petra 2011 https://hdl.handle.net/10067/889530151162165141 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/S00360-010-0508-4 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/isi/000286341400008 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess 0174-1578 Journal of comparative physiology: B: biochemical, systematic and environmental physiology Biology info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2011 ftunivantwerpen https://doi.org/10.1007/S00360-010-0508-4 2023-06-26T22:15:05Z Abstract: The immune system is essential for health and survival of vertebrates, yet still little is known about the ontogeny of the immune system in wild birds. The southern rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome chrysocome) is a semi-altricial seabird with a long developmental period and reversed hatching asynchrony, favouring the survival of B-chicks. We compared leucocyte counts and baseline corticosterone levels of southern rockhopper penguin chicks under different preconditions such as sex and origin from an A- or B-egg from 4 to 51 days of age. We conducted an experiment to compare leucocyte profiles and baseline corticosterone levels in A- and B-chicks in single-egg clutches as well as in B-chicks from normal two egg-clutches (one A- and one B-egg). None of these treatments influenced leucocyte counts or corticosterone levels, indicating a similar investment in the immune system. Our main finding was an increase of leucocytes/10,000 erythrocytes with age, which was mainly caused by an increase in lymphocyte numbers. This suggests differential investment into acquired immunity at this stage of development. As the granulocyte/lymphocyte (G/L) ratio did not change with age or body condition, G/L ratios seem not to reflect stress caused by poor provisioning of penguin chicks. This was also reinforced by the decrease of plasma corticosterone levels with age. Body condition was negatively correlated with monocyte numbers, suggesting a poorer health status of penguin chicks in poorer body condition. Yet, there was no link between body condition and other leucocyte parameters, indicating that chicks in a good body condition did not additionally invest into their immune system. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rockhopper penguin IRUA - Institutional Repository van de Universiteit Antwerpen Journal of Comparative Physiology B 181 1 83 90 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
IRUA - Institutional Repository van de Universiteit Antwerpen |
op_collection_id |
ftunivantwerpen |
language |
English |
topic |
Biology |
spellingShingle |
Biology Dehnhard, Nina Poisbleau, Maud Demongin, Laurent Chastel, Olivier van Noordwijk, Hendrika J. Quillfeldt, Petra Leucocyte profiles and corticosterone in chicks of southern rockhopper penguins |
topic_facet |
Biology |
description |
Abstract: The immune system is essential for health and survival of vertebrates, yet still little is known about the ontogeny of the immune system in wild birds. The southern rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome chrysocome) is a semi-altricial seabird with a long developmental period and reversed hatching asynchrony, favouring the survival of B-chicks. We compared leucocyte counts and baseline corticosterone levels of southern rockhopper penguin chicks under different preconditions such as sex and origin from an A- or B-egg from 4 to 51 days of age. We conducted an experiment to compare leucocyte profiles and baseline corticosterone levels in A- and B-chicks in single-egg clutches as well as in B-chicks from normal two egg-clutches (one A- and one B-egg). None of these treatments influenced leucocyte counts or corticosterone levels, indicating a similar investment in the immune system. Our main finding was an increase of leucocytes/10,000 erythrocytes with age, which was mainly caused by an increase in lymphocyte numbers. This suggests differential investment into acquired immunity at this stage of development. As the granulocyte/lymphocyte (G/L) ratio did not change with age or body condition, G/L ratios seem not to reflect stress caused by poor provisioning of penguin chicks. This was also reinforced by the decrease of plasma corticosterone levels with age. Body condition was negatively correlated with monocyte numbers, suggesting a poorer health status of penguin chicks in poorer body condition. Yet, there was no link between body condition and other leucocyte parameters, indicating that chicks in a good body condition did not additionally invest into their immune system. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dehnhard, Nina Poisbleau, Maud Demongin, Laurent Chastel, Olivier van Noordwijk, Hendrika J. Quillfeldt, Petra |
author_facet |
Dehnhard, Nina Poisbleau, Maud Demongin, Laurent Chastel, Olivier van Noordwijk, Hendrika J. Quillfeldt, Petra |
author_sort |
Dehnhard, Nina |
title |
Leucocyte profiles and corticosterone in chicks of southern rockhopper penguins |
title_short |
Leucocyte profiles and corticosterone in chicks of southern rockhopper penguins |
title_full |
Leucocyte profiles and corticosterone in chicks of southern rockhopper penguins |
title_fullStr |
Leucocyte profiles and corticosterone in chicks of southern rockhopper penguins |
title_full_unstemmed |
Leucocyte profiles and corticosterone in chicks of southern rockhopper penguins |
title_sort |
leucocyte profiles and corticosterone in chicks of southern rockhopper penguins |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10067/889530151162165141 |
genre |
Rockhopper penguin |
genre_facet |
Rockhopper penguin |
op_source |
0174-1578 Journal of comparative physiology: B: biochemical, systematic and environmental physiology |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/S00360-010-0508-4 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/isi/000286341400008 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/S00360-010-0508-4 |
container_title |
Journal of Comparative Physiology B |
container_volume |
181 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
83 |
op_container_end_page |
90 |
_version_ |
1771549746682396672 |